Presidential campaign ads going negative

Associated Press

Published Wednesday, November 01, 2000

George W. Bush launched a tough new ad Tuesday accusing Al Gore of ''bending the truth,'' setting the stage for a bitter climax to their closely fought presidential campaign. Gore said Americans need a president who will fight for them ''and has the experience to do so.''

Gore advisers jumped on Bush for challenging the vice president's character after promising to run a positive campaign. Even so, the Gore team considered a last-minute ad questioning whether the Texas Republican was ready to be president.

A week before Election Day, each candidate struggled to pull away from the other -- while a budget showdown in Washington and scores of close congressional races competed for voters' attention.

Ralph Nader, the presidential race's third-party wild card, upped the ante with a biting satire ad that cast the Bush-Gore race as a choice between ''the lesser of two evils.''

The negative turn on all fronts was further proof that neither major-party campaign was confident enough of victory to close the race in traditional fashion with high-minded positive ads. Analysts said both candidates could face a backlash -- with little time to recover.

A number of Republicans privately said they were surprised that Bush would take the risk, suggesting his move belies the apparent confidence he and his troops are careful to keep on display.

The candidates chased each other across California and Oregon, two states Gore hoped long ago to lock up.

Bush could win Oregon and its seven electoral votes, but California, the election's biggest prize at 54 electoral votes, is still a longshot.

In Oregon, Gore cast himself as the dragon-slaying populist in hopes of drawing Nader supporters back into the Democratic fold.

''You need someone who will fight for you and win and has the experience to do so,'' Gore said. The line came out of polls that show many voters still question Bush's credentials.

Bush has criticized Gore for playing ''class warfare'' in his tax-cut arguments. Gore turned that against the Republican on Tuesday, too, saying: ''What he is actually proposing is a massive redistribution of wealth from the middle-class to the wealthiest few. It is, in fact, a form of class warfare on behalf of billionaires.''

Bush stuck to the strategy of telling voters he is a sunny optimist, a champion of bipartisanship. ''I can't think of a better way to end a campaign in an important state than to come to a place that is founded not on politics but on love,'' he said at a Christian relief agency in San Jose, Calif.

His new ad says Gore is ''bending the truth'' and talking ''nonsense'' about Bush's Social Security plan. It shows a video clip of Gore saying he had never said anything that was untrue.

The ad ends with the word ''Really?'' driving home Bush's point: Gore can't be trusted.

Strategist Karl Rove said Bush needed a blanket inoculation against Gore, who has tried and abandoned several lines of attack in recent days -- from the condition of schools and nursing homes in Texas to Bush's lack of experience.

With polls showing Bush slightly ahead or the race essentially even, Rove said, ''It's close enough that we can't let it dissipate, and the way to make sure it doesn't dissipate is to counterpunch.''